Meanwhile, Over At Pajamas Media…
Posted by Dirty Harry on Sunday, July 20th, 2008
Metrosexuals look remarkably alike.
My inaugural piece for Pajamas Media is up this morning. It takes a look at the self-destructive bias in both liberal Hollywood and the liberal media when it comes to the latest round of war-themed films:
Had the media (and Hollywood, for that matter) broadened their focus from “Iraq-themed” to “War on Terror-themed” films this would have forced them to talk about the single war film that made a profit: Vantage Point, a little Islamic terrorist thriller starring Dennis Quaid and William Hurt. This $40 million film was released the month before the Washington Post piece was written to lukewarm reviews, but still it managed to make a respectable $73 million here in America and another $78 million overseas –making it by far the biggest moneymaker of all the war-themed films to come out this last year.
No one wants to talk about the stand-alone success of Vantage Point because it’s a pro-American film that portrays the American President (Hurt) as a noble, brave, and selfless man. Imagine the denial some would be forced to overcome in reporting that a dozen pro-defeat films failed miserably, but the one pro-American one didn’t.
Longtime readers have heard this before but with 800 words a more cohesive and damning argument can be made. Check it out.
Filed in General |
Fiftyfooton 20 Jul 2008 at 7:51 am 1Nice. Harry’s hanging with V.D. Hanson. Congrats.
misterdon 20 Jul 2008 at 8:52 am 2And I will say again that one of the reasons VP likely avoided the stigma of other Iraq War/War on Terror/War on Civil Liberties by the Evil Bush Administration films is because the connection is never made in any of the advertising for the film. No footage of soldiers in humvees in desert camo. No mention of Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, or al Quieda. I’m not even sure the words “terrorist” or “terrorism” was mentioned - and most definately not coupled with Islamism. The film appears to be completely apolitical, using an attempted assassination to frame a murder mystery. If the film has any political ambitions, there was no way to know it when buying a ticket.
mido505on 20 Jul 2008 at 9:38 am 3Congratulations, Harry, your article has been linked at Hot Air: http://hotair.com/
Joe Weldonon 20 Jul 2008 at 11:09 am 4What about The Kingdon being a War-On-Terror film?
Joe Weldonon 20 Jul 2008 at 11:10 am 5Sorry - The Kingdom?
Carolynon 20 Jul 2008 at 10:09 pm 6Ohmigod! They DO look alike!
Snort! Harry just gave me another reason to laugh at those idiots.
Jmagsfiveron 21 Jul 2008 at 4:43 am 7John, you know what would make a fun post? POTUSes as presented by Hollywood before, during and after the Clinton years. Remember all the dashing/heroic/admirable U.S. Presidents that appeared onscreen during the 1990s? “Air Force One,” “The American President,” “Dave,” “Independence Day.”
Around 2000 (hmm, what happened that year?), POTUSes on film reverted to their pre-1990s selves: personality-free, explicitly or implicitly Republican (and thus indifferent to the plight of regular folks!), corrupt and/or stooges of corrupt advisors.
One of the charms of “Vantage Point” is that the screenplay and William Hurt had the guts to buck this trend.